What to consider when making an online game

Okay so I am going to keep this simple and to the point. I have been coding for a few years and I am a pretty decent coder and can come up with solutions to problems quite fast. I am saying that to get the fact out there that I fully realize how much work and effort it will take to attempt to even begin making an online game. I have made a few games in unity one of which was pretty big and required some intense and scalable code which involved design patterns etc. I can code with c#, php, vb, java, python and I am quite comfortable with database coding.

So i want to make a little online rpg with a small map just 1 class to start with with literally just one ability (want to keep it as BASIC as possible just to get all the networking sorted). I want to store player data in a database( will be using wampserver with mySql on my localhost in the meanwhile) using php for my queries etc and I will be using photon's server( which I have used before) for the actual gameplay.

I realize this is a long and quite hard to answer in one go question, but please bare with me. Basically what I am asking is if anyone can give me advice or tips related to the following. What should I keep in mind with my database if there are for instance a few hundred connection request when saving data. Should my abilities information be saved in code and just be referenced with an ID to the db to save player spells/items/talents or whatever can be saved.

I just want to know if there are any things I should start thinking of in the early stage of development to avoid major issues in the future. I have already coded a login/account creation system and can successfully connect and spawn players, but at this point the database doesn't save any actual player data.

Sorry for the long post and sorry if i went off topic I don't make a lot of post so please give me advice with anything related to making an online game if you could be so kind and don't sugar coat anything give me the good and the bad straight.

 

If you’d like to discuss it outside of this forum, please contact me.
I’ve dealt with sql databases and user security for over 20 years.

Rule #1 - NEVER trust the data sent to you by the client! You MUST validate all information from the client before storing any data or performing any calculations. You MUST code like the people that are going to play are cheaters and hacks. It’s the only way to minimize the cheating that will happen.

About 10 years ago, I coded an html based rpg in php. There was a LOT of sanity checks on the back end.

I am interested in what you are doing tho. We can exchange emails or chat id’s.

 

Hi Steve I would like to exchange emails it sounds like you know what you are doing. I myself am still learning everyday and fully understand how little I know compared to what set of skills I will need. I am currently enrolled at a University and will soon be doing my masters so you can see I still have a long way to go. I would love to ask advice and assistance from you if I am ever uncertain about approaching a problem. As for the game I am starting with don't get to excited haha it will be very simple I am mainly doing it for the learning experience and it has always been a secret dream of mine . You can look at one of my little projects on my channel( just note this was the game I made when I first started with game development! So don't judge to harshly haha. There are a few friends of mine that said I should setup a github repo and we should work together so I might have some man power. That is ofcourse if they are not just bluffing. This will mainly just be a little side project that we work and play on as we have time.

I will also start uploading some progression on my youtube channel in the next 2-3 weeks. So you should follow it if you enjoy watching people learn new skills and applying them! I myself find that pretty satisfying.

Channel :